Story Snippets, Ideas & Concepts
by Lennex MacDuff
Summary: A dumping site for various story ideas that I have jotted down over the years and haven't written much if anything for. Maybe I'll pick up one of these later and make a full story but for now, just enjoy.
1. Harry Potter 01

**AN: So, I had the idea for this while reading the stuff an author by the name of gothicjedi666. He's got a lot of stories that feature his same OC, 'Gothic,' in each of his stories and one of them was a Harry Potter story. His character is usually a bit nihilistic and has his own personal goals and schemes going on. I had this idea from reading it that instead of an OC Harry running his own scheme, we have an OC who is playing his own game. This is the only section I typed out.**

**I'm pretty busy working on my other story right now and with real world stuff, but maybe I'll turn one of the snippets here into a story someday. Until then, I'll just be occasionally throwing up bits and pieces of other stuff I've written or come up with.**

Harry Potter Snippet 01:

"The bloody hell are you even doing here!?" he demanded. "How did you even get in here!?"

"You're understandably upset by that," I said. "And really, you should be. Dumbledore's protection wards over this place are not nearly as foolproof as he's told you. This is what happens when you half-ass things, I suppose."

I drew the taser and pointed it at Harry as he got ready to jump off the bed and possibly attack me. He probably couldn't hope to win in a fistfight against me given how I was clearly bigger and stronger and he was an underfed and untrained teenager.

"None of that, Harry," I told him. "These things hurt like hell. I'd rather not hurt you and I think we both know that you couldn't hope to overpower me on your own without your wand."

"What are you taking?" he demanded.

With one hand, I undid the latches on the protected briefcase and opened it up. Inside was Harry's cloak of invisibility lying neatly folded.

"Unfortunately, Harry," I told him. "I'm going to have to borrow your cloak for a little while."

Harry stared at me in shock and fury as I stood there and finished closing the briefcase. He didn't dare get up as I kept the taser pointed at him as he stayed sitting on his bed.

"Relax," I said. "You'll get it back. But I'm going to have to disappear for a bit to get some things done. I'm having to take the direct method to get what I want and that means coming here. You can thank Dumbledore and his private army of stooges for that."

"So, Dumbledore found you out, did he?" Harry asked, trying to sound smug. "You're the one he has been looking for!"

"I'm pretty sure Dumbledore has been spying on and tracking a fair number of people other than me, but sure, he's also been trying to find me out too," I told him, hefting the briefcase off of his desk and carrying it.

"Why have you done this?" Harry demanded. "Dumbledore has been trying to fight Voldemort and keep the world safe for everyone! You're sabotaging that! You've been sabotaging him and the rest of us!"

"I don't have the time or the inclination to explain this all to you to share with Dumbledore later," I informed him. "Also; sabotage? Seems like a very exaggerated and biased opinion."

"You've been going around and murdering people!" Harry fumed at me. "How are you any better than Voldemort?"

Alright, that accusation stung a bit.

"I'm going to choose not to be mad about that," I told him with a mild glare. I pulled out my phone and hit send on the message for my ride to come pick me up. "You're upset and I know Dumbledore has you pretty brainwashed. I'm sure that you'll come around eventually."

"You're not getting away with this!" Harry retorted. "Wherever you're going, we'll find you and I'll take back my cloak!"

If that wasn't a heroic deceleration, then I'm deaf.

"Harry," I sighed, shaking my head at him. "Where do you think I slept at Hogwarts?"

Harry looked thrown by my apparent non sequitur. "What? What does that have to do with anything?" he asked in confusion.

"It's not a trick question," I responded. "Where do you think I slept at Hogwarts?" I checked my watch for the time and held back a smile. Any minute now.

"I don't know, your dormitory?" Harry threw his arms out in exasperation at my attitude.

I smiled at him, seeming pleased with his answer. "Exactly, Harry. I slept in the boys dormitory for my time at Hogwarts. I had five roommates when I moved in my first year. Do you remember what happened just before our Fourth Year?"

Harry, still looking confused and increasingly frustrated opened his mouth to retort, but I cut him off. "The Quidditch World Cup. Specifically, the Death Eaters attacking the campgrounds. Do you know how many roommates I had at the start of my Fourth Year? None. Two of my roommates were killed in that attack and the other three were pulled from school by their families as they decided to flee the country rather than risk their children's lives and theirs as well."

My smile turned cold. I heard the sound of a powerful engine in the distance and knew it was about time to wrap this up.

"I spent my entire Fourth Year in what was essentially a private room. I won't claim that I was particularly close to any of them, but I certainly noticed their absence.


	2. Judge Dredd x Young Justice 01

**AN: I absolutely love the work that comes out of the DC Animation Department. Young Justice inspired some great fics on this site and I felt like typing some stuff out after watching Dredd. Basically, I was thinking of a young Judge being sent to the Young Justice DC world. Based on both the Karl Urban film and the Judge Dredd comics, it was meant to be another crossover story, but incorporating the idea of a super hero who not only had a grittier outlook but worked with law enforcement as much if not more than the Justice League.**

**Anyway, here's an excerpt from what I've written.**

Judge Dredd x Young Justice Snippet 01

Agent Fulcrum struggled to keep his eyes open as blood loss started to take its toll on him. The lights of the town ahead glowed, but were still pretty blurry to him. Beside him and in the back of the van, his fellow agents were likely all dead. Givens had stopped moaning into the fistful of napkins he was holding up to his face and had gone limp beside him several minutes ago. Kibben and Summers had stopped making noise behind him some time before that.

He would in fact, like very much to close his eyes and let unconsciousness take him.

But he had to get back and report.

The cartel property they were investigating had led them to something much bigger than they could have imagined. He had no idea exactly what it was, but it was huge. Somebody had to be told.

He kept repeating that last thought as he crashed the van into the side of a Seven Eleven and wrecked their ice box.

* * *

I was stopped near an alleyway to eat a burger I picked up at a drive-thru when my Lawmaster's computer beeped an alert at me. Cramming the rest of the burger into my mouth, I swiped my hand over the screen and read the alert.

'Hmm…three DEA agents dead and a fourth in critical condition…multiple lacerations and…chemical burns?'

I read further down the report and saw that the agents were sent on an investigation to a suspected storage site for narcotics, but something had gone wrong. The van had contained a sample of whatever was being stored at the site.

'Chemical analysis…cocaine with crystallized traces of...what the hell is that? An unknown complex formula...Well, that's very interesting. I wonder where that particular product came from. Santa Prisca? Maybe...'

I checked the status of the agent in critical condition and got the hospital he was sent to. He was still touch and go, but might be able to provide something. I set the GPS to plot me the best course and I gunned it out of the alley.

I made it about halfway there when I decided that if I was going to investigate this place, I might need some backup. I activated my comm. unit.

"This is Judge calling Aqualad."

I only had to wait a moment. "This is Aqualad. Something going on?"

"I've got an interesting case I could use some help on. Reconnaissance on a suspected drug lab. I figured the Team could use a soft mission since we've been without an assigned mission for awhile."

It had actually been awhile since Batman gave us a mission. Three weeks of inactivity was weighing on the Team and making some of us antsy. For me, I had my regular patrols to keep me busy but even I was currently without a case to pursue. Aqualad seemed to be mulling over my suggestion.

"It would be good to get the Team on another mission. Anything interesting we should know about before getting involved?"

"…Two points of interest. First, samples of narcotics stored at the site contained traces of crystallized Venom. Also, the DEA agents who investigated the site were attacked and suffered serious injury. One of the agents was transferred to a nearby hospital for further treatment. I'm headed to the hospital now to ask him exactly what happened. The other three have already died from their wounds."

Aqualad went quiet again for a bit. "I'll call the others. Are you coming in after you visit the hospital?"

"Negative." I said, taking a tight turn as I headed up the ramp onto the freeway. "Better for you guys to meet me at the hospital. M'gann should bring the Bioship."

"Will do." Aqualad confirmed. "We should be there in about three hours."

"Confirmed." I said. "I'll meet you at the hospital."

It ended up taking me about an hour and a half to get to the hospital. A traffic accident had taken some of my time and I had stopped to get people moving again, but I was now standing in the morgue examining the agents who had already died.

It was certainly a gruesome sight.

Ugly burns and boils covered splotches of the agents' skin. A sickly smell was coming off that I thought might mean the chemical was still eating at the flesh. I made a note to get an analysis done on what exactly could do that. What's more, there were a number of brutal cuts all over them. The lacerations were thin and long, but they had at least a half dozen in dangerous locations on their bodies. Places where arteries and major organs were located.

It didn't paint a pretty picture. All of these agents had been in perfect health yesterday, but something had gotten the drop on them. Their job may have just been to investigate, but they were each carrying loaded weapons and were ready for a fight if the worst happened. One M4 Carbine was missing from their van and each of them had expended at least two magazines for their rifles and two for their sidearms, based on the empty magazine compartments on their vests when their bodies were recoverd. That's a lot of firepower, which meant that either they were hit by serious numbers or something that could take serious punishment and keep coming.

I examined one of the arms of the agents and took note of his hand. The bones in it had been broken, all the fingers and knuckles. Such injuries meant that this guy-his clipboard said 'Kibben, James A.'-had punched something about as strong as a brick wall. I considered the possibility that whatever could shrug off that much ammo could probably do this to a person's hand if they were punched hard enough by an unsuspecting agent. I spent a little over an hour examining each of the bodies and making my own notes from the mortician's report. I used the scanner on my helmet to record the state of the bodies for further reference and my own records. Thanking the mortician on my way out, I exited the morgue and headed up to where the last agent was resting after his surgery.

I nodded to the LAPD patrolmen who were guarding in the lobby and they both waved back. Both of them had been eager to help when I had arrived, but I told them that they should just keep guarding the lobby. They had both been very eager to please and had agreed at once with my suggestion to keep doing what they had been doing. They probably thought it would be a cool story to tell their buddies at the end of the day.

I took the elevator up to the second floor and I walked down the hall, people clearing a path for me as I went. I mulled over a few pieces of evidence in my head before I reached the agent's room.

Chemical burns and serious lacerations. A storehouse that seemed like more than investigators initially thought. Those agents encountered something that made them open fire and they got their asses handed to them in the altercation.

I needed to know what the hell they found before the Team and I went there. And we had to go soon or the whole operation might be packed up by the time we arrived and all the evidence along with it.

I approached the wounded agent's door and knocked softly before entering.

And then all hell broke loose.

A figure clad entirely in black extended their arm to press a sidearm against my head, but I caught the movement from the corner of my vision and ducked as a shot was fired from the apparently suppressed weapon.

I swiped my left arm out and knocked the weapon away as my right arm reached for my Lawgiver and brought it swinging around to point at my attacker.

The figure responded with a vicious kick that knocked away my gun before I could bring it up to fire. I stepped back quickly to avoid a swipe from a knife and again to gain enough distance to draw my own knife.

For a moment, my attacker and I were staring each other down and sizing one another up.

My attacker was female and pretty tall, about my height. She wore a black form fitting tactical suit with a baklava that covered her lower face and hair, with large reflective sunglasses covering most of her eyes and nose. She held her knife with confidence, but I doubt she could overpower me without some sort of meta-ability. And if she had one of those, she'd have likely already used it to attack instead of a gun.

I glanced at the DEA agent on the bed and bit back a curse. He had had his throat slit and based on the amount of blood, he was already dead. He probably hadn't even been awake to even try to resist his attacker. I didn't know if he actually knew anything important about what he saw, but clearly, somebody hadn't wanted to take the chance. My eyes darted right back to the assassin.

She lunged at me, switching to a reverse grip on her blade and bringing it down while stepping in and trying to catch a vulnerable spot on my vest between my collar and shoulder. Fast, but not fast enough to get me. I grabbed her wrist on its downward lunge and kneed her in the gut. She 'oof'd' aloud and I kicked her into the bed over on the other side of the room and triggered my comm.

"Judge to Team, I'm under attack and need assistance! I'm at the hospital! How copy?"

I broke off as the assassins lunged back at me from atop the bed she had jumped on. Her momentum allowed her to latch into me and she used the opportunity to climb onto my back and try to stab me again. Her blade bounced off of the shoulder guard and rattled her grip on her weapon, making her pause before trying again.

"Judge, its Robin! What's your situation?"

"I've got a damn assassin on my back! Requesting backup!" I yelled and ran backwards at the wall, where I slammed her into it several times before loosening her grip enough to throw her over my head at the wall near the window.

"We're en route, Judge! Just hold on!"

Before my attacker went flying, she managed to drive her knife a good three inches into my collarbone in the space between my armored plates. The knife however, was stuck there as I flexed and shifted to lodge it in place. I blocked out the sting with ease. She had made the mistake many do with a knife, getting it stuck in your enemy without striking a fatal blow. She couldn't recover the knife before I threw her and she slammed into a cabinet that spilled some sort of clear chemicals on her. When I sniffed the air, I could tell it was mostly rubbing alcohol.

That gave me an idea.

I pulled out my lighter from my belt and lit a flame before she could lunge at me again. She froze when she saw the small, but potent flame in my hand.

"That's right." I said, pulling out the knife she left in me with a grunt and tossing it off into a corner. "You know what you're covered in and what will happen if you get too close to me. Now, who the hell are you and what-"

I broke off as the assassin ran at me and tried to kick the lighter out of my hand. The move was so unexpected, that she succeeded and I dropped it while dodging her boot heel. Unfortunately for her, the results were not what she expected.

The lighter touched the liquid running down her pant leg and before either of us could do more than blink, she was on fire.

I heard her gasping in pain as the heat climbed up her body and burned through her suit, hitting her skin. Whatever her suit was made of, it certainly wasn't flame retardant. Still, she stumbled towards me but was in too much pain from her situation to do much more. I moved back and as she tried to lunge at me again, I kicked her back.

The kick forced her to stumble back hard since she couldn't catch herself. She hit the edge of the window and before I could finish my lunge forward to catch her, she had fallen out of the window.

We were only on the second story, so it was entirely possible to survive that kind of fall, but the fire certainly wasn't helping at all. I ran to the edge of the window and looked down to find the assassin, but she was already writhing on the ground.

Before I could decide on my next course of action, I heard a buzzing noise.

I looked up to see a UAV flying down to hover about twenty meters from my spot by the window. The UAV was round with a rotor keeping it aloft while four smaller propellers on the outside gave it direction. A slew of equipment covered the top portion, leaving the UAV with a sort of bloated half sphere shape to it, like a soap bubble resting atop a body of water.

I saw a small camera twitch and look right at me. Then I noticed a tiny missile, perhaps a foot long, pop out of one side of the UAV and one thought occurred to me.

"Ah, fuck me."

I turned and ran back towards the door to the hospital room, yelling for anyone still nearby to get the hell out. I made it to the door when I heard a hissing-sort of a 'whoosh'-noise. I lunged to my left and hit the floor as the missile detonated.

The blast echoed in my skull and made my ears ring like Sunday service was going on. The concussive force of the missile detonating shattered glass and knocked over trays and other objects in the hallway. The detonation had taken place close enough behind me to actually move me a short distance along the floor from where I had landed after my lunge. The fire suppression systems in the hospital activated and I pulled myself off the floor and turned back to the room. The explosion blew out the wall behind me that separated the room from the rest of the hospital and set a number of flammable items on fire. There was also a cloud of dust in the air from the blown apart concrete in the building's walls.

I peered around the corner and saw the UAV clearly hovering in the same spot. The damn thing twitched it's camera again, but I saw my Lawgiver on the floor next to what was left of one of the beds.

Before I could go for it and try to take the damned thing out with a HighEx round, my backup arrived.

Superboy came crashing through my line of sight and struck the UAV with a double hammer fist. The light attack drone never stood a chance against his fists and crumpled like paper-mache.

I sighed as I walked over to my weapon and picked it up. I was eternally grateful that Lawgivers were so durable, because mine still looked functional. I'd do a full maintenance check before firing it again, of course, but it looked alright.

I holstered it and walked to the huge gap that now existed where a wall once did in the room.

Miss Martian had landed the Bioship near the parking lot and the rest of the Team was getting out of it while it remained cloaked. The only reason I knew where it was was the slight visible distortion the cloak let off and the fact that the back ramp had extended down to let the others get off, thereby breaking the ship's camo.

I looked down, trying to find my assassin or at least a body to recover or rush to get medical aid for, but there was nothing down there. Nothing, except the wreckage of the UAV and Superboy looking at it while nudging a piece of it with his boot. I tried looking for some sort of getaway vehicle, but it was useless. There was no sign of her. I sighed as the Team saw me and waved, while I waved back and indicated I was on my way down.

Someone had clearly wanted to erase any leads into whatever it was the DEA agents had uncovered. Someone had sent an agent of their own to dispose of evidence and they had definitely done so. The only agent left who could have told me anything was dead and now his body likely wouldn't even provide any useful clues once it was recovered.

I sighed again as I started heading for the stairs to join the others on the ground.

And everything was going so well this morning…

"Time to get to work."


	3. Harry Potter x Naruto 01

**Forward****: **

**Okay, first off; this fic is OLD. Like, one of the first things I ever spent serious time on writing. I think I cranked out the majority of this when Shippuden was still fairly new and I was just getting into fanfiction. It's why I made up my own roster for the Seven Swordsmen. Zabuza, Kisame and that one dude from the filler arc that Rock Lee fought were the only candidates I knew of. It also seemed almost like a rite of passage to try one's hand at writing a Naruto or Harry Potter fanfic in those days.**

**Second****; this is pretty edgy. Rereading this, I had to be careful not to cut myself on all the edginess teenage-me put into this. So, rather than edit the shit out of it to make myself look less like an emo, I only touched up the spelling and grammar before posting this. Feel free to laugh at the product of teenage angst, but please remember that we were all young once and a little weird, at the very least.**

**Third; this was inspired by the story idea that Harry's parents were still alive, but still got rid of him. Also the whole 'Wrong!BWL' idea. I was absolutely amazed by those concepts when I first started reading fanfics and I found some really good examples of how the authors wrote their characters and made their own stories from those concepts. I don't think I can take credit for the 'Harry is Zabuza' idea, but I have seen two or three where Harry is Haku and I think I got this idea from that. It was so long ago, I honestly have no idea.**

**I highly recommend checking out 'Deprived' by The Crimson Lord. Story hasn't been updated since 2012, but it's very well written and it's a prime example of how I wanted this story to turn out. **

**With all that being said, please enjoy!**

* * *

Harry wandered through the forest aimlessly. He hoped that he might find some civilization in this place he has come to, but that seemed more unlikely by the day. It had been almost a week since he woke up in these woods, and he had wandered towards the mountains and left them since then. He had reached a high enough spot to see the telltale glow of a city in the distance, and had started walking the next morning.

However, he was having a hard time at it. He had scavenged for food whenever possible, and his 'magic' had helped sustain him as well. He had noticed himself feeling stronger, faster, much more durable since he learned how to pump his power to his limbs. He had given thought to teleporting again, but was too afraid to risk it at this time. He wasn't sure if he could pull it off again for one, and he wasn't sure where he would land either. He had a terrible image in his mind of arriving with half his body under a rock, or not bringing all of his limbs when he moved. So for now, walking it was.

He stumbled over another stream when he thought he heard a noise. He froze, fearing it might be some kind of animal that would attack him. He heard some rustling coming from the trees above him and then he saw what it was. Three older boys dropped from the tree branch and stood over him. He was already short for his age, but these older kids were clearly well fed, and probably around fourteen years old. Each of them wore loose fitting clothing of darker colors, and they all had near identical looks of anger on their faces.

"What the hell?" One of the young men said. "It's just some brat! He's not even a genin!"

* * *

Harry fell to his knees. He couldn't breath. He couldn't hear. All he could do, was see the bodies of those in front of him that he had just killed...

Blood.

Harry felt ill. He wanted to throw up, he DID throw up, but he hadn't eaten recently, so all that came up was bile...

Blood.

Harry stared at the broken bodies of his attackers. His victims. It had been so easy...

Blood.

His aunt and uncle were right, he was a demon. A demon that killed so easily...

Blood.

He felt it welling up inside of him. His HATE. He HATED. He HATED his life! He HATED being unwanted! He HATED everything about his life!

BLOOD.

Harry let his hate explode. He let out a deep, bestial roar. It wasn't a roar of an animal, or of any human, it was a roar of sheer anguish. His magic threw itself wildly at the world around him, emitting a dark aura above him. He didn't even notice. All the general pain and hate he had ever felt since birth had come flying out of him all at once. He had never felt more powerful, but never more vulnerable.

It was this roar, combined with the massive flare of power, that had led to his discovery. Every sensor type chunin and jonin honed in on that massive surge of energy. When they arrived, they found the passed out Harry Potter amidst the bodies of three dead genin. Unsure of how to respond, the senior jonin took charge and told his subordinates to take the boy back to the village. Surely, a boy so powerful as to kill three genin without taking serious injury was worth keeping and training.

* * *

"Look at you," Zabuza crouched in front of a child. "You don't have a name. You have nothing, not even a dream. You'll be dead before winter comes." Brilliant emerald eyes locked onto the small child who looked like a wounded animal. It's gender was uncertain, but also really irrelevant. "What life is this for anyone, especially for one so young?"

Zabuza's emerald eyes locked onto the soft brown that glanced up and looked at him, before they closed and the child was smiling. "You have the same eyes as me, mister."

Zabuza's eyes widened a fraction in surprise, before they went back to normal. Then Zabuza stood up.

"Come with me kid, and become something greater. Or would you rather die here?"

The child stood up and walked, stopping just beside Zabuza. As the jonin gave into his urge to comfort this child, he placed his hand on it's shoulder in as comforting a manner as possible. "I'm Zabuza Momochi. The life ahead of you won't be easy, and I won't coddle you. You will have to learn. Learn to fight, to defend, to live. One day you may find your own answers to life, but until then, you're just hollow inside. I'll keep you safe until then."

"What's your name kid?"

"Haku."

* * *

Everyone looked up when the doors opened and a group of strangely dressed individuals walked in, an old man with blue eyes that twinkled strangely, a rather gnarled and battle-scarred old man with a fake leg and false eye, a rather worn looking man with curiously feral looking yellowish eyes, a sallow skinned man of roughly the same age with straight, greasy black hair and unpleasant dark eyes – Zabuza deduced that he was either a poison specialist or a Torture & Interrogation Specialist – and a young woman whose hair was an absurdly bright color pink.

Zabuza gave them a brief once over before returning to the drink he was nursing while spying on the traitor across the bar who had started looking edgy when the newcomers had entered. He knocked back another sake dish and held it out for the barman to refill. The other people in the bar turned back to their drinks and their conversations, having decided that the group were of no immediate threat.

So wrapped up in his thoughts, Zabuza never noticed the odd group eyeing him carefully, Moody had told them that this was Harry. The man held not even the faintest resemblance to any of the other Potters. No green eyes, no scar on his forehead, the hair was the right color, but too straight to be like James's, and he looked absolutely bland. But Moody was quite firm, that was the boy, or man they were looking for.

"Positive." Moody growled, "All the spells point toward him and he's got the scar. It's under a glamour like I ain't never seen before. Got a few other scars too, kid's been in the thick of it by the look of it."

Dumbledore nodded, a little distracted, he had been attempting to subtly use Legilimency a few of the patrons in the bar but their mental control was astounding, they didn't notice him attempting it, but they still managed to subconsciously throw him off rather roughly. He did however get a few glimpses of their lives, enough to know that many of these men were shinobi, and that shinobi were dangerous by nature.

He exhaled very slowly so as not to draw attention to himself and made a mental note not to peek into the child's mind. There were some memories in there he likely didn't want to see.

"Let's go. This place is not safe in the least. The sooner we talk to him, the sooner we can all go home." He declared getting to his feet and approaching the man. The Demon of the Mist looked up at him curiously but offered a polite smile to disguise his agitation and keep his cover. The target was starting to look at him now and was getting visibly more nervous...

"Can I help you Ojii-san?" He asked politely, tilting his head.

The old man smiled warmly, "Yes I believe you can young man. I was wondering if my associates and I could have a word with you."

Zabuza mentally cursed. What the hell is this? And on a job of all times? "May I ask what about? I've had a tough day, and would like to unwind a bit." He pretended to be curious instead of angry. He used his body to shield his hand from the target, and was trying to signal them to piss off. Any shinobi would notice the gesture and get the idea; 'I'm working, fuck off before you screw me over!'

Dumbledore didn't even seem to notice the gestures. Moody, Remus and Snape did but just didn't seem to get it.

"I'm afraid I must insist, Harry." Dumbledore said, hoping that using his given name would get him interested enough to hear them out. And it did get a reaction out of him, just not the expected one.

Zabuza froze. There shouldn't be anyone who knew him by that name. The only ones who should-.

Damn.

They were wizards. What's more, they saw right through his henge, but didn't emit even a hint of the level of skill that would take. They must have used their magic to find him somehow. In his nervousness at this sudden revelation, Zabuza made a rookie mistake and turned his eyes onto the target, who was looking right back and locked eyes with him.

Shit.

The target hurriedly put some cash on the table and began to walk out of the bar. Zabuza decided that enough was enough and got up to follow him, but his path was blocked by the small group.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Zabuza hissed at the wizards, who, surprised at the sudden anger, complied.

"Harry, wait-" Dumbledore tried again.

"You assholes just spooked my target!" He said before sprinting out of the bar and into the street. His target was moving away on foot at a light run. The wizards spilled out of the bar in time to see Zabuza dispel his henge and show his true form. The group gasped at the fierce appearance of the man. The tank top he was wearing didn't do much to conceal how muscular he was and how toned his abs were. The bandages that covered his lower face did a good job at hiding his identity, but the emerald eyes and short messy black hair gave away the Potter family resemblance.

Zabuza took off after the man who was sprinting now to get away from him. Zabuza ran after him towards the edge of town while he whistled sharply to signal Haku into action. Haku didn't disappoint, and a moment later, four senbon were flying through the air towards the fleeing man. They struck him, two to each leg, and the man fell to the ground in pain, unable to use his legs now.

Zabuza caught up to him an Haku stood ready behind a nearby rock in case he needed to back him up. Zabuza approached the target and flipped him over to look into the man's terrified eyes. He faintly acknowledged that the wizards had followed him, and were just arriving a short distance behind him.

"Hello, Huu Penn." Zabuza growled threateningly. "You didn't think we wouldn't find out, did you? Stealing supplies from the guys that took you in, and to sell them to crime bosses no less."

"Z-z-zabuza-sama," the man sputtered pathetically. "I swear, the stuff I was getting rid of was for good money! The funds-"

"Were accounted for properly when we raided Gato's files. You're done. I hear Ao's eager to practice those hunter-nin skills of his again."

The man began visibly trembling. "I-I-I-" Zabuza ended the conversation there by savagely punching the man in the face and knocking him out. He dropped him back into the ground and stood up. "Haku, take this thing to the drop off."

Haku shunshin'ed next to Zabuza, startling the wizards with his silent apparition. The new arrival kept his face turned away from the wizards. He bent over and carried the man over his shoulders with so little effort, the wizards assumed that the man was also very muscular under those green robes he was wearing. The man then disappeared as silently as he did before, making the wizards wonder how he could do that so quietly.

Zabuza then turned to face the wizards, who were all looking at him with mixtures of shock, fear and hope. They saw his bandaged face and wondered if he was hiding some kind of wound or disfigurement under there. His tall and thin form was contrasted by the huge blade that was slung across his back, making the wizards wonder if he needed some sort of featherlight charm to even hold it. Surly, no human could wield such a huge blade practically?

"Well thanks assholes," Zabuza started abruptly, with anger. "You just ruined my entire sting. Now his accomplice will run and we'll have to hope to get him later. Any reason I shouldn't take out my aggression on your worthless asses right now?"

"Harry, please," Remus came forward a bit. "We were so eager to speak with you. We had no idea we were interrupting something important."

"Well, you were. And the name's Zabuza." Zabuza crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, talk; who the fuck are you, and what are wizards doing on this side of the rift?"

"Show some respect boy!" Snape shot back. "You should be grateful that we came here to get you!"

Zabuza leered at the greasy man. "I dislike wizards on principle, but you are really getting on my last nerve today."

"If I may," Dumbledore felt the need to step in then. "My dear boy, we came here to bring you home. You may not know this, but you are a wizard. We're not sure how it is you came to be here in these lands, but your family will be most eager to see you again."

Zabuza snorted. "You clearly have the wrong guy. My wizarding family abandoned me long ago to trash. My life then led to my abandonment and arrival here. You have found the wrong man, now you will answer MY question." Zabuza let his hand close slowly around the grip of his cleaver and he crouched slightly to give the appearance of a predator about to leap forward. "Are you the ones who put that trace on me? I can feel it even now.

* * *

Bagman's voice continued to drone on for a bit before Zabuza heard his cue and entered the arena.

"And now it's time for our final contestant! Ladies and gentlemen, you've all certainly read the reports on the mystery surrounding his return, but no one has ever seen him in action before! So today, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you, Harry Potter, or as he prefers to be known, Zabuza Momoichi, the 'Demon of the Mist!'"

There was a thunderous applause as Zabuza entered the arena. Cameras flashed, and Zabuza squinted his eyes in irritation. Really, these wizards and their stupid games. They acted as if _he_ were the savage, but they were all so damn eager to throw a stranger as well as their own children into dangerous situations. Such weaklings. Their attitude made him want to kill a few if only to shut them up. But so long as they paid him as much as they were, he could show the patience of the Buddah. Even the prize for winning the tournament was enough for him to remember to restrain himself.

He shook off his musings as he viewed the challenge in front of him. Dragons were well known creatures, even in the Hidden Countries. Their fearsome appearance and abilities made them very reputable. The creature in front of him however, wasn't some demon beast from the underworld. It was about the size of a large store that one might find in a more urbanized village, and certainly a lot smaller than a boss summon creature. The creature's neck looked like it wasn't too thick to cut through, but those scales could pose a problem.

Fortunately, Zabuza had made a point to get his hands on a book about dragons after he had discovered these four in the forest. While formidable, those plates weren't as tough as they seemed. Their true strength lied in their ability to deflect magic spells, while a well aimed physical strike, like say, with a big-ass cleaver, could probably penetrate under the right circumstances. Circumstances being, the blade being wielded by one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

_'If I were hunting this beast in the wilds,'_ Zabuza thought. _'I would have to be wary about letting it lure me into it's territory or attacking me from the sky. But here, in an encircled space, and without it's ability to use it's wings to full potential, the best approach may be the direct one. If I get within cutting distance, I won't have to worry about it breathing fire, and those claws won't touch me if I'm careful. Those other dragons were fast, almost Chunin-level, in their attack speed, but even that is well within my abilities.'_

The Hungarian Horntail saw Zabuza calmly walking towards it and roared a challenge. The beast didn't seem to regard him as seriously as it could since it saw no wand in his hand, but the dragon's natural instincts told it that this puny human was a predator too, and was no stranger to blood and death.

Zabuza had decided that sometimes a bit of showmanship goes a long way. He stopped walking about eighty meters from his target, and casually unslung the blade from behind his back. He hefted it over his shoulder and let it strike the ground beneath him with a loud 'thunk.' Several of the Slytherin students in the crowd laughed at him and yelled out that he couldn't even lift his own sword.

Zabuza decided to ignore them before he lost his contract for killing the bunch of inbred gakis.

Zabuza stood there for several more seconds before making his move. He took a few steps forward at first, increasing his speed at a steady pace, until he was full out charging the dragon. His cleaver was trailing behind him along the rocky ground, creating numerous sparks as the friction of striking the rough ground heated the blade's edge. He ran some earth chakra down the blade to increase it's weight and the blade's edge to an incredible heat.

The dragon was slow to react to his charge, clearly not used to anyone ever fighting it head on. It spewed a large stream of fire at him, causing a number of the crowd to call out to him in a panic. This was unnecessary, as Zabuza easily leapt to the side and ahead of the flames without ever breaking his pace.

While the dragon was still spewing fire in the completely wrong direction, Zabuza took that as the opening he needed. He leapt up into the air, causing some of the crowd to gasp in amazement at his jumping height.

The dragon realized it's mistake and tried to turn it's head to snap it's jaws and bite Zabuza in two, but it wasn't fast enough. Zabuza swung his sword with a great flourish, using his own momentum from the jump to turn his body into gravity's pull and increase the speed of the sword's swing.

The heated edge of the blade cut right through the dragon's scales and through the flesh underneath it, shooting dark reddish-green blood out in a large gout of gore.

The dragon didn't even have time for a last roar as it's head was separated from it's body. The dragon's head flopped to the ground with a loud and gory 'thwack' and it's body fell twitching not far after it.

Nobody made a sound. Nobody moved.

Zabuza hefted his sword over his shoulder and cracked his neck. Probably one of his favorite things about the Executioner's Blade was how little maintenance it required. A chipped edge? Go kill something. A crack? Go kill something. Broken into pieces? Go kill a few somethings. That was only for the last few years though. In the past, when he had first been practicing day and night to master his new blade, he had made trips to a local hospital, and acquired spare blood from them. No need to be ghoulish about these things. It was unprofessional.

Zabuza slid his sword back into place on his back with exaggerated casualness. Maybe now these peons would understand that he EARNED his title of 'Demon' and wasn't to be taken lightly. He bent down and picked up a golden egg from the pile the dragon was guarding. He hefted it a few times in his hand and analyzed it a few times before shrugging and walking off. It was too light to be real gold, so that meant it was just gold plated, and therefore, not worth selling.

'Ah, well,' Zabuza thought idly. 'Can't expect cash to just fall from the sky. Or get picked up off the ground.'

The crowd was now going nuts, but Zabuza just ignored them as he walked towards the exit. He broke his stride when his eyes caught sight of it. Perhaps the one thing he least expected to be laying in an arena. It took every ounce of his considerable experience to hide his reaction and disguise his momentary lapse.

'No,' he thought as he altered his course casually to intercept the object. _'How? Why? What am I going to do about this? I need to be careful. NOBODY can find out about this! I'd die before letting my 'family' or these weak wizards find out about THIS of all things!'_

With a killer's grace, his hand swept low and picked up the object, that damned object.

A blue handkerchief.

He pretended to wipe a spot of imaginary blood from the dragon off the back of his hand, as if such a small amount would be bothersome!

SHE was here. Zabuza dared not look into the stands to try and catch a glimpse of her, even if it were unlikely any of these fools would notice him doing so. He kept pretending to wipe his hands on the piece of cloth as he reached the medical tent and stepped inside. He carefully slid the handkerchief into his pocket as he entered the tent as to not draw notice to it.

Madam Pomfery was coming over to try fussing over him. He stopped her with a raised hand and a look. "I'm fine. Never even touched me." he told her. Really, he didn't like the idea of any of these wizards touching him if he could help it.

"And just what," she puffed up, insulted at this man for stopping her, but secretly too scared of him to ignore his words. "Do you call that blood on you?"

Zabuza raised an eyebrow at her. "Weren't you paying attention?" he asked her. "It's the dragon's."

While she gaped at his answer, Zabuza saw Haku coming over to him. She wore a soft smile on her face as she ignored everyone else in the tent and went over to him. He nodded to her before handing her the egg and they both stepped back out of the tent to recieve his score.

"Any trouble from the crowd?" Zabuza asked idly, while the judges finished preparing his score.

"Not really." Haku answered, idly inspecting the egg for herself. "One of my shadow clones broke up a fight, but that's about it. Although some of the students tried talking to one of the clones."

"Anyone interesting?"

"The Potter boy, his sister and two friends."

Zabuza grunted and the judges got ready to give out his score.

Madam Maxine's wand shot out a flaming number into the air, displaying a perfect score of ten. Next, Ludo Bagman was grinning ear to ear like an idiot while he also gave a score of ten. Crouch gave a nine. Dumbledore interestingly enough, gave an seven. There were some dissatisfied noises over that, but it was quickly drowned over the uproar given by Kakaroff.

"A FIVE?!" Haku said disbelievingly. "Does he seriously think he can get away by giving that kind of score? After giving his own student a ten?"

"Probably doesn't want me outscoring his own student too much." Zabuza said calmly, while thinking about maybe paying a midnight visit to Kakaroff's quarters and 'discussing' the matter...

"Even so," Haku said, calming down. "You are now tied with first place. The Diggory boy is tied with you. He did this pretty good trick of turning a large rock into a dog and using it to distract his dragon. It was a simple, but good distraction."

Zabuza 'hmmed' as Haku described the other champion's matches to him while they walked back up to the castle, Haku's shadow clones keeping their eyes on the crowd to avoid any angry gamblers from starting trouble.

* * *

Nathan and Rose Potter couldn't sleep. Both of them had decided to meet in the common room to try to discuss exactly what it was they were going to do about their long lost brother. Har-no, Zabuza would seem to go out of his way to avoid him and his sister. Their parents didn't seem to be having any better luck in the matter, Zabuza and his associate Haku had started taking their meals directly from the kitchens. Whenever he needed to deliver a message or get food, Zabuza would use Haku, having the barest of contact with anyone unless it was necessary.

In fact, Haku usually interacted with them on his behalf. His parents tried to pry as much information out of the girl as they could, but she seemed devoutly loyal to Zabuza. What details she did provide were few and far between, as she was adamant that she would never betray his trust in her. Nathan couldn't help but wonder at what sort of relationship they had with one another. Due to whatever circumstances landed his twin in the Hidden Continent, he was several years older than Nathan himself was.

Nathan, Hermione and Neville had all taken to the library to find out as much as they could about the Hidden Countries and what sort of place they were, but like the name implied, information was scarce at best. All they alluded to was that the lands were ravaged by war and should be avoided if at all possible. He wanted to ask his brother what they were really like, but never seemed to have the courage or opportunity to do it.

Rose Potter sat across from her brother, idly scanning the Marauder's Map for her brother. She had taken up the habit of doing so whenever she had some spare time on her hands, trying to see where her eldest brother was and what he could be doing. So it came as quite a surprise to her when she saw the dot with his name on it atop the astronomy tower with a second dot next to it labeled 'Mei Terumi.'

"Nathan! Look at this!" she whispered excitedly. Her brother broke out of his silent brooding and looked over to where his sister had laid down the map.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's Zabuza!" She said, pointing to his dot on the paper. "Look at who he's with!"

He squinted to read the name in the faint light coming from the fireplace. "Mee Ter-umi?" he incorrectly sounded out. "Who's that?"

"That's just it!" His sister said. "That's a foreign name! And I've never met any students with that name before! It's probably somebody from the Hidden Countries! Somebody he knows!"

Nathan's eyes widened as he looked at the two dots with renewed interest. "They're standing pretty close to each other."

He noticed. "Do you think they're friends?"

Rose nodded eagerly. "Yeah," she said. "They probably are if this person came all the way here to find him!"

They looked at each other, both sporting grins that clearly showed off their Maurader heritage. Nathan spoke to his sister.

"I'll get the cloak."

* * *

"...I see." Mei said, looking down. "I guess you really didn't have much choice in the matter. I'll make plans accordingly. Are you sure you don't need any help? These wizards may be weak, but you're kinda alone out here."

Zabuza snorted, taking another sip from his flask of firewhisky. "Not really," he said. "I'm on the payroll, as well as being a competitor in this stupid tournament. They won't dare touch me until it's over." He took another sip. "Plus I've still got Haku."

"Ah, yes," Mei smiled. "And how is little Ha-chan these days?"

Mei still remembered the day when Zabuza showed up at the door to her apartment with a dirty looking child hiding behind his pant leg. She had been rendered speechless until he had scratched his cheek and asked her if she could help him with something.

_'Men!'_ Mei mentally snorted.

She had immediately taken a liking to Haku. The little girl was so smart, she took to shinobi training right away, showing an impressive aptitude towards senbon needles and skirmisher tactics. She was a natural candidate for the undertaker corps or the ANBU. It was such a shame that Yagura started his reign of tyranny, otherwise she likely would have become a squad leader and earned her own mask by now. Instead, she had taken her mask from a dead Mist-nin that had cornered her and tried to kill her when Zabuza wasn't around so she was therefore 'vulnerable.'

It was the first time Haku had ever killed a Mist-nin herself. During a rendezvous some days later, she had confided to Mei privately that it had had more of an effect on her than she had let on to Zabuza. She was afraid of disappointing him, so she never gave him a clue as to how it had impacted her emotionally. Mei was certain that Zabuza wouldn't EVER be disappointed in her for feeling bad for killing a fellow Mist-nin.

'Just goes to show...' Mei mused. 'Sometimes the people closest to us really don't know us as well as we think.'

Mei was brought out of her musing by Zabuza's answer.

"She's fine." He answered. "She's a tough one, but she seems more relaxed around these wizards than may be smart. Can't say I blame her though, it's hard to stay on edge with all these soft targets around us."

"'Soft targets!'" Mei laughingly quoted him. "Says the man who had a dragon thrown at him by these 'soft targets!'

Zabuza grumbled under his breath and looked away.

Nathan and Rose crept up the steps of the Astronomy tower and paused as he heard the sound of a woman's laughter.

"He's up there with a woman?" Nathan whispered aloud. He hadn't actually given thought to the name or gender of the person his brother was up there with, he had just been eager to get to the tower before they both left it.

Rose shrugged at her brother's question. Mentally, her mind buzzed with possibilities. Was this a visit from whatever adoptive family her brother had? Or was it a romantic interest? Was her brother dating? Was he married? Her feminine mind was abuzz with possible scenarios, but she was also sad that she had so little information on her elder brother's personal life.

The two siblings crept up the stairs until they were in hearing range of the conversation.

"...tell her in the morning. She'll be glad to hear how things are going." a male voice, clearly Zabuza's, said.

"That girl worries for us too much." A woman's voice mused back. It was a cool soprano tone and spoke of elegance. "And it's not like you help the situation much, getting into trouble like you do! She'll go grey early because of you!"

"Yeah, well," Zabuza said back. "Needs to be this way. That gold will seal the deal from the security position alone. The tournament winnings are just gravy. With that much cash, plus the stuff we got from Gato, it's all set. No more scrounging and doing shit jobs."

"Which reminds me," The woman's voice suddenly turned serious. "Be sure to send out the word to the rest of your guys. Money or no, we'll need all of you to pull this off."

"Contacting them won't be any trouble now. I'll use the school owls to reach them. Apparently, they can use some weird magic of their own to go to their letter's recipient. Nobody will notice a few missing if it's only for a few days. I'll have them meet with me here before the end of the tournament. We need to give them time to get geared up again."

"Hm," The woman mused aloud. "I wonder how those bums have been."

"Drinking," Zabuza deadpanned. "Killing, whoring, or just brooding under a rock somewhere. They'll come when called. They still listen to me."

The woman laughed sweetly at his answer.

"I should probably be going. Don't forget, you owe me a date."

"Yeah, yeah." Zabuza grumbled. "You win. I'll see you later then."

"Yes," the woman said, almost whispering now. "Yes you will."

It got quiet for a moment, and then the two siblings could clearly hear the sounds of two people kissing. Both of their jaws dropped in shock at the realization. The sounds stopped, and the two leaned closer to the door to hear what was going to happen next. "This will be over soon." Zabuza promised softly. "When you next get here, we're going to make up for lost time."

The woman giggled. "Promises, promises." She said in a singsong tone of voice. "You still need to make an honest woman out of me."

Zabuza chuckled softly. "I'm working on it. Can't have you marrying some deadbeat now, can I?" The woman giggled again. "Hardly. Give Haku all my love, and I'll see you both soon."

"Count on it."

There was the sound of a few more soft kisses, and then the sound of rapidly moving air. Then only silence.

* * *

Everyone's eyes landed on the two newcomers who had just entered the Great Hall. The first was a tall male, easily over 6 feet. He wore a sleeveless dark blue tank top and muggle camouflage pants with bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face. He had a large object wrapped in bandages on his back that was nearly as long as he was tall. He wore a bandanna over his forehead that had a metal plate with a symbol over it that was tilted to one side of his head.

The second figure drew a few more stares from the males in the room, as she had a very pretty face. She was a teenager who wore a strange type of robes with a jade colored coat over grey leggings and long sleeves. She had a large belt sash across her middle that kept the outer layer closed and her hair was in a wrapped bun behind her head with two long bangs going down the sides of her head. Several of the more vain girls were instantly jealous of her delicate features.

* * *

James and Lily Potter walked down the corridor towards their son's guest room. Both of them had spent the previous night working up the courage to go and see him, but had reasoned that he was tired and decided to wait until the morning. When breakfast had come, the Potters had saved their son and his friend a seat beside them at the head table. They were however, disappointed when Haku had entered the Great Hall alone and had piled up two plates of food before leaving without speaking to anyone. They had spent several minutes trying to decide what they should do, before deciding to go directly to his room and visit him.

Lily was a bundle of nerves. She had been the most desperate to see their son and to try and explain themselves and their actions regarding his placement at the Durselys. She couldn't help but be tortured by what could have been happening to him in the Hidden Continent, and only blame herself for listening to Dumbledore instead of her own maternal instincts.

James wasn't much better. He recalled times in his childhood, when his dad would scare him with stories of the Hidden Continent and of the terrible things that lived there. As an Auror, he had done some serious growing up since then, and reality had tempered his perception of the world. He couldn't help but hear that nagging voice in the back of his mind kept asking him if he had sentenced his son to Hell by leaving him. He wondered if his son even had the capacity to forgive him after what he saw of him the previous night. Those cold eyes, the way he seemed to view everyone in the room as inferior to him, tortured James just as much as his wife.

The Potters arrived at the portrait that guarded the entrance to the guest quarters in this wing of the castle. Neither of them knew the password, and neither of them could even begin to guess at what it might be, so they decided to ring the bell.

About a minute passed before they got a response. The portrait slid open slightly to see the polite smile of Haku, the young girl that accompanied their son. They weren't sure what her actual ties were to their son, but she had seemed very nice from what they had seen of her.

"Yes?" Haku asked them politely. "Can I help you?"

Lily and James waited for about a minute at the portrait before Haku returned, still without any sign of expression on her face.

* * *

"I'm sorry," she said. "But Zabuza-sama is busy at this time. He does not wish to speak with you."

Lily could feel her heart breaking inside. "Please," she started to half whisper, half beg. "He's our son. We-"

Haku held up a hand to stop her words. "I am aware of who you are, as is Zabuza-sama. He will not speak with you."

The calm tone in which she delivered her words only frustrated James. "We all live in the same castle." He ground out, depressed again. "It's not like he can avoid us forever. We just want the chance to talk to him, please. Even if it's only for a few minutes, you would be doing our family a great service."

"My loyalty to him, outweighs my compassion for you." Haku delivered blankly, shocking the Potters with the statement. "Come back another time. Perhaps he will see you then." Haku started to close the portrait.

"Wait!" Lily cried out desperately. She couldn't let any chance to learn about her son or get back into his life slip past her. Haku stopped closing the portrait and gazed at her.

"If he won't see us," Lily tried. "Then may we speak to you? Please, we just want to get to know him, and you're obviously an important part of his life as he is to yours."

Haku paused at this. She thought about her answer very carefully before wording it aloud. "I cannot and will not give away his secrets." she told them. "But, I will speak to him on your behalf. Until then, I would ask you to leave him alone. Zabuza-sama has an excellent memory, and he does not forgive his enemies so easily."

"We're not his enemies," James tried desperately, as heartbroken as his wife that either of them would consider them so. "We're his family."

"He already has a family," Haku informed them, closing the door once again. "And none of us have ever betrayed him."

The portrait hole closed with an audible click, leaving the two Potters in tears in the deserted corridor.

* * *

The Three Broomsticks pub was, as per the usual, jovial and loud. There were the usual customers sitting out front, drinking and eating their fill. Most of them had come out because, really, there wasn't much else to do in Hogsmeade except stay at home, or listen to the music and chat with friends at either of the inns. Tonight, the Three Broomsticks would receive more than it's usual clientele.

Madam Rosamerta was a very intelligent woman. Many thought that her looks implied that she wasn't very smart at all, but these people often failed to consider how an 'unintelligent' woman could come into ownership of such a successful business and run it so well.

Therefore, she found herself wondering why it was that the long-lost Potter twin was sitting in a private room in back of her pub, with his teenage companion. He had come into her pub earlier that night-scaring the hell out of her and a few of her customers- and told her that he would need to rent a private room for himself and several guests. She had asked him how many, and he had shrugged and said, 'for however many show up.'

The two of them had been back there for the better part of the last hour, with a medium case of butterbeer sitting on the big table in the middle of the room. Nobody else had shown up yet, and Rosamerta was starting to wonder if the young man had been stood up by his guests.

Then the first two guests had arrived.

Both of them wore high collared cloaks that concealed their faces from view, and low cone like straw hats that hid the upper portion of their heads. The one that to her had a large object wrapped in bandages on his back, and it had a tan handle with a small skull on the end of it. It's size and shape reminded her of Zabuza's own sword.

"Ohayo miss." The one with the sword-like object said. "Is there a room reserved tonight for us?"

Rosamerta shook herself out of her stupor enough to respond to him. "Err, yes...sir, there is. Are you with 's party tonight?"

The man gave a chuckle at her question and gestured with his hand. Rosamerta noticed the strangeness in his skin tone. It was blue!

"Mr. Momochi? My, my, you make him sound so benign!" The man laughed at a joke that apparently only he understood. His companion remained silent.

"Err, yes sir." Rosamerta continued after a moment. "He's in the side room over there." Rosamerta pointed.

"Much appreciated." The man and his companion tipped the brims of their hats to her and walked off in the direction she indicated. They received many curious looks from her customers before they disappeared into the back room.

There was another set after them. These two wore cloaks with their hoods down and seemed to be brothers. Both of them had straight white hair, and pointed shark teeth. Without even bothering to introduce herself to this pair, she pointed them towards the side room.

Then came what was possibly the scariest man she had ever seen in her life. He was as nearly big as Hagrid, and just as broad. He had a scarred face and wore an eyepatch over his right eye. His hair jutted out behind him in various spikes that ended with little bells attached to them. Despite the bells, they didn't seem to make any noise unless the man wanted them to. He wore large black robes with a white outer coat with the sleeves torn off at the shoulders. He also had a long sword at his hip with a sheath wrapped in white bandages. The hilt was some sort of complex vertical diamond design with more bandages wrapped around the grip.

He had a small child, possibly a first year in age, at his side. She had strikingly pink hair, and didn't seem at all intimidated by the large man's presence. Rosamerta could hear her loudly declare that they had found the right place, and that this was why he should always trust her directions. Rosamerta didn't even bother to greet this beast. She just quickly pointed towards the side room before he could scare away any more of her customers.

Next came a woman wearing a large tan coat that had a large blocky knot fastened around the collar. The end of a sword was visible over her shoulder, and this one showed a pronounced metallic hilt. It seemed much less exotic from what she could see from the other swords.

The woman herself seemed very young. She had straight blonde hair that was cut simply around her face and ended before reaching half way down her neck. Rosamerta actually went over to greet this arrival and noticed the striking silver coloring of her eyes. The woman was very polite, but she never seemed to show any expression on her face as she calmly asked if the rest of her party had arrived. She nodded politely to Rosamerta's confirmation and left for the room.

That brought her to the entrance of another strange couple. The man wore similar black robes to the large scary man from earlier, black cloth with a white overcoat. But this man also wore a strange coat over that one. It covered his shoulders and upper back, but the most distinguishing feature of it was that it was pink and decorated with flowers! He was a very hairy looking man, with plenty of body hair on his arms, face and the exposed part of his chest. He wore a straw hat like the first two strangers that had walked in earlier.

It was good that his companion, a smaller woman with glasses and dressed in just the simpler black robes of her companion, was able to keep him in line. She seemed to be the go-getter in their relationship and more than capable of keeping her strange friend in line. She politely asked for directions and then practically forced her male friend along when he seemed distracted by what the wizards at the bar were drinking.

* * *

"Let me give you a piece of advice to you two gakis." Zabuza said, turning around to face them and looming over them.

"The world we live in isn't all magic wands, easy living and free food. It's a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there so long as you let it. Not you, not me, NOBODY will ever hit as hard as life. There will ALWAYS be some bastard out there trying to take everything you've got. But it's not about how hard you hit, it's about how many times you can get back up and keep coming back for more, how much you can take, and keep coming back for more. That's the only way you can EVER expect to beat your enemies!"

Both Potter children stared openly at their brother with wide eyes.

Zabuza decided to reveal a bit of himself to these two. Truthfully, he still had a soft spot for kids, and that's just what these two were, even if they were both gakis. He told himself it was just him being soft, and not because he felt any real attachment towards them.

"I lost my home," he began in a low tone, shocking his siblings further. "To a madman. I lost my home, my people, my girlfriend and my pride, all because some bastard a dozen times worse than your self proclaimed 'Dark Lord' ever was, decided to let his prejudice out on his own people."

Zabuza lowered his tone a bit further. "I was down and out. I had been beaten into the dirt, and the thought of all those people I let down was crushing me."

His tone rose again. "But then I got up. I realized that I still had some things worth living for. I realized that my new goal was obvious. I was going to get strong again, and then I was going to kill the son of a bitch myself in order to make up for my mistake."

"So the next time you think about talking to ME about giving up," he glared harshly at them. "Maybe you wizards should consider wiping your own damn asses for a change. Because it seems to me," Zabuza began walking away from them. "That you all have been living in the dirt for some time now."

* * *

During his years as a missing-nin and even a little before that, Zabuza had been mildly surprised by the variety of clients he received for his services. Mundane guard or investigation duty, finding or stealing objects, or even a few high profile assassinations. More than once, he had to wear a suit, like on a job where a henge might be detected or he didn't want to keep one up for too long.

Zabuza had decided to break out an old number for this evening.

It was a very expensive suit he had actually stolen himself from a rich, bratty client who had tried to cheat him out of payment by having his bodyguards kill him when his guard was down. After killing the little shit, Zabuza had looted from the house to find his cash and a very nice foerigner evening suit. He had decided that he liked it and had elected to keep it. After all, Haku had insisted on a number of civilian clothes to wear, why not indulge himself a bit? He had to leave behind most of his own clothes when he left Kiri after all.

The suit was a midnight black jacket of fine silk, with a shimmery white fluffy undershirt to go with it. The trousers were made of the same fine quality material as the jacket, with a firm crease running down the centerline. The tie was a irksome thing. He thought it a hazard if it got loose in a taijutsu fight, but he wore it. It too was pure black, with a perfect knot that had taken him an absurd of amount of time to tie properly.

He had thought of just throwing the foul thing away, but Haku had insisted that it was an essential part of the wardrobe. He had only agreed to it because he trusted her feminine sense of dress more than his own when it came to formal wear. He had decided to forgo his combat wraps tonight, as he knew Mei didn't like it when he wore them to social events. She said she felt like she was dating a mummy.

He had decided to go lightly armed this evening. He carried a few kunai in his jacket, the rest of the Swordsmen were attending in combat garb (getting many of them in formal wear would have been a hassle he didn't want), and his clones were being extra careful in case of any incidents. He had kubikiribocho sealed in a special seal that was attached to the back of his belt and hidden under his jacket. All in all though...

He was actually kinda excited for tonight.

He stood next to the entrance of the Great Hall reserved for champions and waited for his date to arrive. The other champions had arrived after he did, along with much of the student body that had walked past him with curious looks on their faces. Most of them had never seen his actual face before, and were openly staring. The fierce look in his eyes had deterred the more rude ones that were pointing at him, but he otherwise remained silent.

Draco Malfoy had arrived at the head of a large group of Slytherins, and had commented loudly to his date-the pug faced girl-that Zabuza probably had to hire a prostitute for the evening and that he would be amazed if even she showed up. A number of them had the nerve to snicker, until Zabuza had grinned at them with his shark teeth and had chuckled darkly that they should run along before he decided to not wait for dinner and decided to dine on the flesh of a pureblood. Malfoy had looked like he was going to shit himself and many of his fellows weren't far behind. They had quickly made a retreat into the hall before they became shark bait.

The other champions had arrived earlier and had kept a healthy distance from him. Diggory was with a pretty asian girl wearing

* * *

"Mr. Momoichi? Your date?" Zabuza finally turned his head to look at her, as if he only just realized she was talking to him. "She'll be here in a second."

McGonogall frowned at his answer and was about to reply, when she saw someone new enter from outside the castle. This woman was tall and wore a navy blue dress with long tight sleeves with frills that ran down the forearms and more that began around ankle height on it's skirt. Her shoes were a matching set of heels that she walked in with an ease that made women twice her age jealous. She had a wide cut around the neckline that left her shoulders bare and showed a tasteful hint of cleavage that indicated a natural large bust at least DD.

Her face had very little makeup applied, but her full lips and flawless skin gave her an almost angelic appearance. Her hair was very long. So long, that it cascaded down her back and spiked in a chaotic but tasteful mess down to her hips, save for the elegantly styled straight hair atop her head that had a small bun on top tied off with a small blue band, or the large curvy lock of hair that fell just over her right eye.

(AN: Think her normal outfit without the fishnet neckline at the top and with longer skirt and sleeves with frills. Basically a ballroom version of her normal wear.)

Everyone left in the entry hall had gone quiet at her entry. She seemed oblivious to this and strode over to Zabuza who gave a graceful bow, and then pulled her closer to him to give a searing kiss that made many girls wonder why their dates wouldn't kiss like that for them. Zabuza broke off the kiss and whispered something in the woman's ear, making her giggle softly.

Mcgonogall regained her composure and cleared her throat loudly. "Yes, well," she began. "We will be beginning in a few moments. Will everyone please enter the hall at this time? Champions, remain where you are."

The crowd began to disperse and trickle into the Great Hall, while certain's people couldn't help but stare at the couple.

Nathan was leading Tracy into the hall more slowly than Tracy would have normally liked, but the both of them were staring at the lost Potter twin with eager amazement. Nathan finally had a face to put to the face of the woman that his brother had been with atop the astronomy tower that night. She was gorgeous! He couldn't help but marvel at her beauty, and how she held herself. He hoped his brother would introduce him-her!...to the family.

James couldn't help but give pause when he saw the gorgeous woman in blue kiss his son. Damn, maybe Potter men had an inclination towards redheads that was genetic. As he saw his son take her hand in his and converse quietly, he noticed how good those two looked together. He could only hope that his son had really found someone he could be happy with. After having such a tough life, he deserved no less.

Lily had to resist the urge to go over and introduce herself to the woman that was obviously so close to her son. She saw how beautiful and graceful the woman was and wondered how those two had met. Perhaps she would be able to get a few moments alone with her before the night was over, just to say hello. She desperately wanted to make amends, and maybe her son's friends could help her son believe that.

* * *

"Any trouble getting Ao to let you go?" Zabuza asked her, trying really hard not to stare at how hot she looked in that dress.

Mei gave an un-ladylike snort. "Hardly," she answered. "He knows better than to fight me when it comes to my love life."

Zabuza chuckled at the thought of Ao quailing under her 'evil-eye no jutsu.' Zabuza respected the man enough, he had helped teach Haku after all, but he should know when to back off from letting Mei and he have their get-togethers. Once, he had been so paranoid, he had insisted on accompanying Mei to their meeting place. Zabuza and Mei had terrified the ex-ANBU/hunter-nin with their combined glare so much, the man had fallen to his knees and politely excused himself.

* * *

"Stay back." Haku told them, holding her arms out wide. "You must not interfere."

"Like hell!" James and Nathan shouted at the same time. "He needs help!" James yelled to her face. "Are you just going to stand there and let him die!? Don't you care!?"

Haku shook her head at them. "He will be fine," she told them calmly. "But he told me specifically to keep wizards out of this fight. Nnoitra Gilga is a formidable fighter, he will kill anyone of lesser skill. Even I would not dare face him openly and even Zabuza-san will need to focus on the threat in front of him and not on protecting any of you. Now," Haku lowered her arms and turned around. "Watch."

James and Nathan gripped their wands in anger at the situation. James was feeling helpless. He was an Auror, dammit! A veteran of the last war and an experienced fighter!

* * *

Zabuza raised his blade high into the air, catching the sunlight and reflecting it all around the grounds like a beacon. Nnoitra raised his large wind sythe into the air and readied his charge.

"WATCH CLOSELY, YOU WEAKLING WIZARDS!" Zabuza yelled out, loud enough for everyone in the castle to hear him. "THIS," he lowered his sword and began to charge across the water's surface. "IS HOW A TRAITOR DIES!"

Nnoitra began his run too, wind chakra flowing off of his scythe and leaving small tidal waves in the lake's surface. He laughed like a madman, as they neared each other.

Zabuza swung hard upwards with both hands on the sword's hilt.

Nnoitra swung from the side, poised to lop off Zabuza's head in one strike.

Midway to their opponents, the blades clashed, sparks flew, and chakra clashed atop the surface of the water.

The resulting torrent of water eclipsed the two swordsmen from view, and sent out a shock wave so powerful, those watching the fight from the castle several stories up could clearly feel it.

Zabuza and Nnoitra stood on the surface of the water, backs facing one another, neither one moving an inch. Both of them still had their weapons raised from coming out of their slashes.

Not a sound was made by anyone. Nobody moved an inch. Everyone was riveted on the outcome of the battle atop the lake.

Suddenly, a reaction, a huge gout of blood erupted into the air as a body crumpled into the lake. It's owner's eyes blank and lifeless as his weapon broke into two pieces from where it's last opponent carried through with his attack.

A shinobi died atop the Hogwarts lake that day. A swordsman's legacy was added to. A monster, reviled by many and seen as a creature not worth living was slain, and many would rejoice at his death.

Zabuza stood up from his crouch and took in his victory as Nnoitra fell and began to float and bob up and down in the lake. He swiped his blade quickly to the side to throw off some of the blood. He hefted it over his shoulder in a familiar motion and firmly locked it into place on his back and felt it's familiar weight as he turned around and walked over to Nnoitra's corpse.

The entire Hogwarts castle was alive with the cheers of the amazed wizards. Only the shinobi were reserved in viewing their commander. Kenpachi and Kisame were slightly miffed that they didn't get to kill that arrogant asshole themselves, but were satisfied that he was still dead.

Zabuza bent over and yanked on the chain of Santa Teresa up before it could drag itself and it's wielder's body down into the depths of the lake. Examining the break across one edge of the double curved sythe, he hefted it a few times in his hand before shrugging and started walking with it back to shore. He barely gave any consideration to the fact that the bloody body that was still attached to the chain was being dragged behind him, leaving a crimson streak across the water.

'Ah, well,' he thought, giving the chain a little tug and making the corpse of his enemy bob a bit in the water behind him. 'Saves Haku or somebody the trouble of coming out here and fishing it out themselves. Don't want to risk these wizards getting a look at the body, even if they're all probably too squeamish about such things to even consider autopsy.'

Nuke-nin or no, Zabuza was still a shinobi. Allowing your enemies access to that kind of intel was simply unacceptable.

* * *

The Fourth Mizukage was not what many would expect. From his terrible reputation, people expected him to be this terrifying man who could kill with a glance. Being known as a Jinchurikki for the Three Tailed Turtle only added to the myth. In actuality, he was quite genial looking.

Standing at just about 5'10", with slicked back ragged brown hair, Aizen Yagura had the appearance of a kind uncle. He had a permanent slight smile on his face, that belied the monster he really was. Many of his opponents had underestimated him for the simple reason of how harmless he looked. But when he called on the Three Tails' power, he became shrouded in a green aura that burned any who got too close to him. His standard outfit was a set of white Kage robes with a red sash tied around his waist and a white ankle length coat with black accents.

One might easily forget that this seemingly gentle man was the monster that had ordered the deaths of his own people.

* * *

Yagura fell to his knees as his battle aura dissipated into the air. The green wisps rose like steam from his now bare upper torso as blood dripped from his wounds.

Zabuza let his own aura dissipate. Truthfully, he didn't think he could sustain it for much longer anyway, but that didn't matter. He had done it. Victory had been achieved. The Bastard was finished and would never bother the Mist again. For a hundred years, children will be told of the monster Aizen Yagura and how he was brought down by the very people he had stepped on.

Unlike weak wizards, when their own 'Dark Lord' was dead, they would gladly and openly say his name. No superstition, no spinelessness, Zabuza wouldn't tolerate anything less than at least one hundred people spitting on this man's legacy every day for the next ten generations.

Zabuza couldn't have been more satisfied with the future than at that moment.

The Demon of the Mist walked over to the fallen man, now dead to the world around him as Zabuza signaled a sealing team over. This had to be done right, or not at all. Once the Three Tails was sealed into the jar, a new Jinchurikki could be selected later, but first they had to remove the demon from the chaff of a man it inhabited.

Six sealing specialists appeared in a circle around the fallen Kage. Not sparing him a glance, they set up the sealing jar and placed the special sealing poles around the small gathering. Upon Yagura's death, the creature could be safely transferred to it's temporary housing.

Typically, a Jinchurikki was killed when their 'tenant' was removed. The huge influx of chakra and demon energy suddenly leaving the body would kill even the strongest shinobi, but in such a beaten state, there was no chance for Yagura surviving extraction. But it couldn't go down like that, not that easily. There was a process to these things. A set of steps had to be adhered to in order for Kiri to restore it's good name among the other Five Great Nations.

Mei stepped forward. Still clad in her normal battle kimono with armored attachments, she looked like a vengeful goddess to him. The battle damage to her armor only made her all the more beautiful, and every shinobi on the battlefield was in awe of her regal stance.

Mei reached the fallen Kage and looked down at him with clear disdain in her eyes. It was not as if she just hated him-she really did-it was as if he was now just garbage. And there was a solution to dealing with garbage...

"Aizen Yagura," Mei said loudly. "You have been charged by the people of the Hidden Mist and the Land of Water with crimes against the state and it's people. The ashes of thousands have been laid at your feet and their ghosts cry out for justice. With the authority granted me by the assembled shinobi of Kiri, I sentence you to death, to be carried out immediately." Mei turned her head slightly to the right and she spoke again just as loudly as before. "Zabuza Momoichi!"

Zabuza took his cue and walked forward. Nobody would dare refute his claim to this, not here, and not now. He hefted the Executioner's blade up and put the head of the Fourth Lord Of Kiri through the execution hole. The Water Shadow only looked forward with unseeing eyes as his death hovered 360 degrees around his exposed neck. Zabuza decided to get on with the show before anyone saw just how drained he really was. He was barely keeping his sword steady now, it's normally familiar weight was now decidedly heavy.

"By the authority granted me by the ruling body of the Village Hidden In The Mist, and by the Land Of Water," Zabuza intoned in a deep officious voice. "I, Zabuza Momochi, the leader of the Seven Swordsmen Of The Mist will carry out the death sentence. Does the prisoner have anything to say?"

Zabuza waited a moment, but Yagura kept that blank look in his eyes the whole time. Fine by him.

Zabuza's grip tightened on the grip of his blade. In a single swipe, it was over.

Aizen Yagura was dead.

* * *

"There is nothing wrong with revenge. The wrong has already been done, or there would be no need to even the score."


	4. Judge Dredd x Young Justice 02

**Disclaimer: I own nothing mentioned here. This is pure fan based parody written for fun and pleasure, not profit.**

* * *

**AN: Another Young Justice x Judge Dredd segment. I think I only wrote one more chapter's worth of these. I recall writing a bunch of stuff that was ripped straight from Phantom Pain and adapted to my character's own story and the YJ universe. I'll dig it up some time and throw it on here when I get the chance.**

**As always, please remember that these are snippets of earlier stuff that I wrote. Eventually, I'll probably throw newer, other ideas on here as I get the urge to write them. I'm only breaking up paragraphs and correcting spelling and serious grammar issues before posting them.**

**This one was basically my take on the 'no win scenario' episode as seen from the perspective from the MC. Judge starts out on his own dealing with the alien invasion and rally's his own defense.**

**For those of you wondering, the police precinct mentioned here and the characters are from the show Rookie Blue. I had recently marathoned the series as I was writing this and threw some of that stuff on here.**

* * *

"This is Judge Raider to all Law Enforcement personnel in the Los Angeles region. A state of emergency has been declared. The city hall has taken heavy damage and many senior law enforcement officials including the city chief and commissioner are missing and presumed KIA. As such, I am rallying as many officers as I can to the Precinct 15 house to arm and organize. All officers not on duty are to report to either the nearest precinct or to the nearest superior officer. Judge Raider, out."

* * *

"And just what the hell are you expecting us to do, Judge!?" Captain Peck belligerently asked me. The officers standing behind her were glaring at her back, clearly not in agreement with her line of reasoning. "We need to leave this to military and national guard units. And aren't you Leaguers supposed to take care of problems like this? What the hell do we keep you people around for!?"

I had had just about enough of this. If we weren't around so many officers, I might have just punched the injured woman and been done with it. As it was, I might still get away with that given how angry she was making the officers assembled in the bullpen.

I leaned in, getting right in her face and causing her to stumble back into her daughter who was standing behind her. "To uphold the Law and defend the citizenry." I growled into her face. "Serve and protect, _Captain_. People need us out there to coordinate defense of shelters and help evacuate the overrun areas. Then there's also the duty of maintaining as much order as we can during this crisis. So we're going in, expecting hard contact with the bastards. You can stay here and heal up. Your street days are clearly behind you if I have to remind you of that obligation."

"We're not freaks like you!" She told me, with only a slight tremble in her voice. Behind her, her daughter looked offended by her choice of words. "We're not psycho Judges with authority to do whatever the hell we want! We have rules here, dammit!"

I stared at her hard, my scowl more pronounced than I can remember making it in my entire life. I looked up and saw the gathered officers around me. Many of them shared looks of determination at whatever would come next. Some of them however, betrayed nervousness on their faces. They had never expected to be needed in such a large crisis. This wasn't Mega City One and there wasn't a mass crisis averted every decade. These men and women were nowhere near as well trained as I or even the average Judge was. Even the other members of my current team had more training than this.

But, maybe I could do something to help fix that.

I turned over to where the younger officers were standing Epstein and Diaz looked especially nervous and their fellow rookies weren't looking much better. I took a step towards them and pointed at Epstein. "Epstein," I said. "How long have you been an officer, you, Diaz and the rest of your group?" I knew the answer, but I wanted to make a point with this. This next part was going to be all about how I acted it out.

Epstein looked nervous when I pointed to him, but he answered in a strong voice. "Almost two years, sir!"

I nodded. "Very good. You've put in your street time, all of you. Now, kneel."

Everyone looked confused by that last bit, so I tried it again, this time louder. "Take a knee!"

As the rookies knelt down on the carpet, I turned and shouted to the room as a whole. "Every officer who plans to wear that badge today, kneel! On your knees!"

Most of the officers looked damn confused, but obeyed when I yelled the second time. I saw that only the severely injured and Captain Peck hadn't kneeled. The captain looked surprised that everyone had obeyed me, her daughter in particular. I turned and strode around the small clear spot the Captain and I were standing in while we argued. We were now both standing above every officer in the precinct, but every eye was on me, waiting to see what I did next.

From the inside of my vest, I withdrew the precious leather bound book I had been working on these past few months. It wasn't entirely finished, but it just had to be here for this next part. The gold eagle of the Hall of Justice gleamed over the black leather cover while large red letters shone with the words, 'Book of Law.'

I had struggled with this new world when I arrived. Many of this world's laws were way too damn soft for my tastes. Over time, I had learned to compromise to serve both the Law and the people of this world as best I could. So, I had done the unthinkable and began to re-write the Book of Law. It was the culmination of everything I was taught as a Judge, but framed in a way that those of this world could also understand its virtues. Every page was hand written, more a personal preference on my part. I spared it a few minutes or an hour every so often and I had nearly finished. Now, the book was to be called to action.

I held the book out in front of me and rested it atop Epstein's right shoulder, it's spine touching his vest and it's golden shield gleaming in his perepherial vision as he bowed his head.

"You were born without purpose." I intoned, reciting the speech given to every rookie Judge upon recieving their badge. "But now you have been called upon to serve. You may have been weak, you may have done things you are not proud of, but that changes today. Today, your neighbors call upon you to be more. The backbone of our society is and will always be the Law. Wherever there may be chaos and disorder, you will be there. Wherever the citizens call for help, you will be there. Uphold the Law. Serve and protect the innocent.

* * *

"Now rise, a Judge! Rise!"

Epstein rose shakily to his feet, but the look in his eyes said it all. He was ready to serve and protect. Every officer rose after him and they now stood straighter than before. They needed this. Now, I believed a few more just may survive this day. I turned and held the Book of Law over my head as I walked towards the exit.

"Time to get to work, Judges!"

The room behind me erupted into cheers that boomed against the walls so loudly, I think they rattled the windows. Before I could go any further I heard a shout.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Captain Peck said once again. But this time, all eyes were on me, clearly ignoring the senior officer in favor of following my lead. "Is calling them Judges, making them like you, supposed to make them better officers!?"

I turned slowly to look her in the eye. Not a sound was made by anyone else in the precinct, waiting for my response.

"Yes."

* * *

_With the Team:_

We entered the ruins of the D.C. Hall of Justice. The other members of the Team cast despondent looks at the trashed statues of their mentors as I kept my rifle up and checked around the other side of what had once been the statue of Superman's head. "Clear!" I called out. Around the room, other members of the Army detachment called out that their sectors were also clear.

* * *

Suddenly, the Bioship disintegrated in a bright yellow flash. M'gann recoiled from the psychic backlash as I snarled in anger. That had been our best bet of holding this position. We needed to start falling back before enough enemy forces gathered to overrun our position.

"Aqualad," I yelled. The Atlantian raised his head and looked over to me. "I'll cover you and the others! Fall back beside those tanks and get ready to cover me!"

Aqualad nodded and began sprinting. I started firing at one of the enemy mechs marching towards me. It took a few hits and fell forward before falling, but managed to get a shot off before that. Two infantrymen were vaporized with a scream and flash of yellow.

"Judge, we're good! Fall back!"

Robin's voice spurred me into motion as I sprinted back to where the tanks were setting up behind some rubble for cover. Superboy, M'gann and Kid Flash were ferrying wounded personnel back as I leaped over a boulder and settled into a firing position beside Robin, who was filling me in.

"We can get the Army guys out with us, but the Zeta Tube system won't let us put more than one through at a time." Robin conveyed with a grim face.

"Don't we have a damn override for emergency situations like this!?" I demanded, firing a few more times at an enemy aircraft making a low pass over our lines.

"If there is an override, I've never heard of it." Robin said, throwing a few explosive discs at a mech that was rushing one of the tanks.

My mind had already brought me to an inevitable conclusion. "Then we need to hold this line as long as possible while we keep the Tube open for the Army." I said. "Robin, fall back and help the others hurry this up. And send Aqualad up here."

"I can't just leave you up here!" Robin yelled back, indignant.

"It's the best course of action!" I yelled back, pausing to reload my weapon. "Your combat style doesn't suit our current situation very well. I need someone with better range abilities and Miss Martian is suffering from backlash after the Bioship got taken out! There's no time to argue, those grunts need you back there more than up here! Go!"

Robin looked mutinous for a moment but, reluctantly, agreed. He ran back to the Hall as another Abrams tank blew up down the line. I took the chance to move a bit further from the tank to my right as it seemed they were drawing more fire than the infantry.

A short time later, Aqualad worked his way down the line towards me, using his whips to lash out at approaching mechs with good effect. He ducked behind the piece of rubble I was using as cover as another yellow blast from an alien weapon whizzed over our heads.

"What's the evac look like?" I asked, reloading again.

"Not great." Aqualad conveyed. "It's slow going, but we're getting them through."

A Humvee with a heavy machine gun on top was taken out by another blast. "Won't be that many left to evacuate at this rate." I replied, grimly. I resumed my firing.

Aqualad and I held the line until we lost the Humvees and the last Abrams was taken out and the enemy began to advance on our position. There was no way to fend them off now that we lost our heavy support.

"Fall back into the Hall!" I called out. "Fall back!"

The call was repeated by several more defensive positions as we all made a fighting retreat into the main entrance of the Hall. The thick walls and columns would provide good defense, but I still didn't expect it to last.

I made a headcount as we entered the Hall and more soldiers ran past me.

'15…20…24. Shit.'

That was less than a quarter of what we had started with for just infantry out there. I turned my head and saw that there were only a dozen soldiers left to be evacuated by the others. I heard one of the wounded men mistakenly call Conner 'Superman' before walking into the Tube and vanishing before Conner could correct him.

Aqualad came running into the Hall, rolling as a blast threw up dirt behind him as it struck the ground.

"I'm the last one! They're right behind me!" he called out.

I fired a few rounds behind him at the pair of mechs that were chasing him which we managed to bring them down with our combined firepower. After that, I turned back to the others who were rushing the last of them through the Tube.

"We need to go, now." I said, wiping away dirt from the exposed portion of my face and checking my ammo. I was down to two grenades and was running short on ammo for my rifle. "I'll hold with the others and we'll fall back here, but you guys need to start moving through right now."

"I'll stay with you. We'll both be the last out." Aqualad spoke, coming up next to me. I was glad he didn't try to tell me to go. I didn't want to risk spending our last moments together with that hanging over us.

The rest of the Team began to voice various protests, but I didn't even stop to hear them out. I slapped my last fresh magazine into my rifle and turned back to where the last of the infantry were already under threat from the enemy mechs coming up the steps to the Hall.

After another few minutes, I felt Aqualad come up behind us and start ferrying men to the Tube. When there was only a dozen men left, the enemy fliers made a big pass over our position. A dozen aircraft strafed the ruins around us as marble exploded and forced us all into cover. When I looked back up, the mechs were rushing the steps again for their biggest push yet. I called out to whomever was left standing from the defenders.

"We're falling back to the inner hall! Frag out in five seconds and go!"

The remaining soldiers responded by grabbing their grenades and hurling them down the steps. I followed suit by hurling both of my last two grenades down the steps after them.

"GO, GO, GO!" I yelled, not even pausing to see the grenades explode as I sprinted ahead and re-entered the inner room. When I turned back, only two men had followed behind me, one being carried by another. We only had seconds before those mechs came over the steps and into the Hall. And I only had three shots left in my rifle.

"They're closing in! Everybody go, NOW!" I yelled at them in my most 'Dredd-like' voice.

There was some commotion behind me as the others started arguing over who was next after the soldiers went. It seemed they were arguing over who stayed to buy time.

Slinging my rifle over my back, I drew my trusty Lawgiver and fired just as the first mech came over the edge of the steps. It crashed back from the impact of a HighEx round and I heard it clatter into more mechs right behind it.

A hand suddenly gripped my shoulder and tried to pull me back. I roughly shoved it off.

"Judge, you next!" It was Aqualad. I appreciated him coming back for me, but I was too busy firing at the approaching enemies to express that.

"I'm right behind you!" I yelled.

Suddenly, a very large mech crashed into the wall behind us and reached for the two of us with one large metal clawed hand. I shoved Aqualad out of the way in time and was grabbed by the three steel fingers of the alien mech. I grunted as the damn thing constricted me in it's grip as I got a good look at it.

The damn thing was at least four meters tall and looked much more heavily armored than the other mechs we had fought. It had much thicker arms with a large device on it's back of some kind. Given the thruster looking nozzles on the bottom section of it, it looked like a jetpack of some kind. Two smaller cannons reached over it's shoulders and glowed menacingly yellow. On it's face were three red glowing eyes that seemed to glare at me as it tightened it's grip. Luckily, I still had my shooting arm free. It raised me into the air as I aimed at the three glowing eyes on it's 'face.'

"RAPID FIRE!"

I unloaded half of my magazine into the damn thing and it just seemed to shrug off the smaller caliber rounds of my Lawgiver. Wishing desperately I still had ammo for my rifle or some grenades, I yelled as I began to use my armored fist to hit the joint of one of the mech's fingers. In response, it began to tighten its grip on me.

I grunted in pain from the increased pressure, when I finally broke the mechanical joint loose and fell from it's grip. Had I been a normal human, that damn thing would have probably snapped my spine. As it was, I could feel my bones creak and bruise before it let me go.

Aqualad chose then to act. With me out of the way, he swung his water whips at the super-mech, knocking it back a step but inflicting no obvious damage. That was when Robin threw a pair of explosive bird-arangs at the thing's center of mass, still not doing much damage.

I raised my Lawgiver and took aim right between the super-mech's three 'eyes.'

"ARMOR PIERCING!" I yelled and fired.

The first two shots didn't seem to do much, but the higher quality ammo in my Lawgiver broke through whatever kind of armor the super-mech had on it's face. A sizable section of the armor broke and fell off, exposing it's internal components in a small gap.

The super-mech seemed to realize it was in trouble now and aimed it's two shoulder cannons at Aqualad and I. I took less than a moment to decide. I charged at the damn thing and slammed into it with all my augmented strength was capable of, uncaring of whatever damage I did to myself in the attempt.

I must have been pumped up hard on adrenaline and the super-mech was just damaged enough, because it toppled back out the hole it had made in the wall and slammed into the ground. I felt my bones crack from the impact and was certain I had managed to concuss myself, but now I had it right where I wanted it.

I jammed the muzzle of my weapon into the exposed section of it's inner workings. As I did so, I noticed both of those shoulder cannons had not stopped charging.

They had just both switched aim to point at me.

I grinned savagely, knowing that it may get me, but I was taking the bastard with me. Dimly, I heard Aqualad shove Robin through the Tube, telling him that I was buying them time and that he was right behind him. My grip tightened on the trigger of my Lawgiver.

"EAT IT, DIRTBAG! HIGHEX!"

Just as I pulled the trigger, the super-mech fired it's twin shoulder cannons at me. I heard Aqualad yell behind me, my world flashed yellow and the sweet embrace of darkness overtook me.

* * *

I inhaled sharply and jerked up off the bed. My hands shot to my head as a harsh headache hit me. I groaned and felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder.

I reacted and my hand shot to grip the one that had touched me. I pulled back my other hand and readied a fist when I registered the face of Hal Jordan looking back at me.

* * *

"I get what you're trying to do here, Canary and I appreciate the thought. However, I don't think you get my own view of what happened."

Canary raised an eyebrow at that. "And that view is?"

"I feel…serene I believe is the right word." I said cautiously. Canary looked skeptical at that, so I elaborated. "My life has been one dedicated to a cause, the Law. When I came to this world, I felt lost, but then I realized people and society still needed the Law. That they still needed me.

"When I was trained at the academy, it was clear what sort of life I had to look forward to. One where I would serve and eventually die in service to the people I protected. Whether a traffic stop would go bad, some scum gang member got in a lucky bullet or I took the Long Walk and a cursed nuclear landscape took me, I knew - and still know - that I am going to die. The only question would be how I faced it.

"I feel at peace knowing that when I was confronted with my own death, I faced it well. My gun in hand, my actions clear. I protected those men and my teammates. My death in service to that goal is acceptable, expected even.

"Now, I know that when the day comes for real, I have nothing left to fear in regards to my own heart. My most dreaded question has been answered. The fear of death will not deny me a proud end or make a coward of me."

Canary looked shocked by the little speech I had given. I don't think I've ever said so much to any of the Leaguers ever.

"You don't feel scared or angry at all?" she asked, trying to clarify what this young man had just said.

"Oh, no." I responded lightly, smiling a little as I responded. "I still feel fear. Fear of death is only healthy, especially in our line of work. I am slightly angry that the scenario went out of control like that, but I accept that Miss Martian didn't mean for it to happen. I have actually already forgiven and thanked her for what happened."

"You thanked her?" Black Canary blurted out, surprised again.

"Yes Canary, I thanked her." I responded, standing up and picking up my helmet. "She didn't seem to really get why I was doing it, but it wasn't really for her, it was more for me."

I put my helmet back on my head and re-fastened the strap. "If we're done here Canary, I actually need to get back to my base in LA. I'm expecting results back from a lab test and want to see them as soon as they're in."

I walked to the door. "Good day."

Behind me, the door slid closed on it's own, leaving behind a Black Canary too surprised by my reaction to try to stop me.


End file.
